By Michael Hill
Correspondent
Former New Jersey governor and Senator Jon Corzine told these Farleigh Dickinson University business students that events don’t always go as planned, and risk is like ambition – necessary and inherent in any endeavor.
“I want to be direct about this: five years ago I took on a struggling corporate franchise. My first objective was to turn it around, to give it health, to give it vitality to go forward. I wanted to do that in a way that if we were successful that I could build up my capacity as a philanthropist,” he said.
But it was an abject failure that produced the nation’s eighth biggest bankruptcy. It landed Corzine – then the CEO of MF Global – on Capitol Hill apologizing to farmers, ranchers and other investors and denying any wrongdoing. “I simply do not know where the money is,” he testified.
Regulators later determined Corzine and others – in violation of market rules – had directed customers’ $1.6 billion into MF Global’s account to cover the firm’s risky, money-losing strategy.
“I believe I recognized the risk. That if I surrounded myself with good people, that if I worked out a good plan, we could turn with pride,” Corzine told students. “Regrettably, I was wrong and the consequences have been anything but pleasant. And unfortunately, sometimes in defeat, it’s not just the individual that has hardships. It’s been disruptive and painful for many innocent bystanders. I don’t like that. I’d like to address it a little more fully, but given the circumstances I think people will understand that I’m going to have to stop there. Someday I hope to speak directly to this issue,”
Investors have been paid in full since. But the government watchdog agency Commodity Futures Trading Commission is suing Corzine in civil court and legal analysts speculate that eventually it could lead to criminal prosecution. The litigation made for an awkward exchange with reporters as one from Bloomberg Business, Matthew Leising, challenged whether Corzine was trying to recast his role at MF Global.
Leising: You refer to yourself as a private equity investor to turn around a struggling firm rather than a CEO and Chairman of MF Global. Is that really how you see yourself?
Corzine: Well, I was the CEO. I never walked away from that.
Leising: When you were speaking you said you were a private equity investor.
Corzine: Well, I was a private equity investor.
Leising: You were also the CEO and chairman.
Corzine: Yes, yes, and I took responsibility for that. I mean it’s everywhere. Matt, read anything I’ve said in public.
Leising: Just one last question, the CFTC case against you, is that the only thing that’s still pending?
Corzine: No, there are other things in Trenton.
Leising: Okay.
Corzine: You know, I’m going to give you the standard I’m not going to talk about current litigation.
This was Corzine’s first public speaking appearance since his 2011 testimony. He says FDU invited him to deliver for free, “A Life with Purpose: Reflections on Success and Failure.” He cautioned students about too much ambition and told them to channel their ambition to benefit others. He said winning at all costs is not worth it and self-appraisal is a must.
While Corzine said he would stay away from politics, how could someone who served as governor and senator, and still yearns to make a difference in public service, avoid it? He didn’t when one student asked about the presidential debates and Corzine blamed the media for turning them into a reality show.
“We ought to stay focused on the fundamental things that matter in people’s lives,” he said.
When asked if he missed politics at all, he said, “Of course I miss politics. I love people and I love the work.”
But, Corzine said he would not go back in to politics, and that “complicated events” in his life have prevented him from being publicly active the way other former New Jersey governors have been. He said he would like to advocate to end homelessness, and work to make an impact on other issues and teach.
In 2009, Corzine was a one-term Democratic governor who lost re-election in a blue state to Republican Chris Christie, whom he hasn’t spoken to since.
“I haven’t talked to Governor Christie personally, but he has been generous in some of the difficult challenges I’ve faced and I appreciate it,” he said. “I have been in events where I’ve seen him a couple of times, but we haven’t had a chance to speak.”
Corzine says he now lives in Manhattan so his wife could be near her grandchildren, and he works out of a small office managing his family’s investments. He described his life as taking measured risks, not gambling. He gave the business majors an important lesson in life: what matters is what happens after the blunder. It’s a chapter not completely written in his own life.